Social Practice: Becoming Enculturated in Human-Computer Interaction

We present a new approach to the design, development and evaluation of embodied conversational agents (ECAs) that allows them to index identity through Culturally and socially authentic verbal and non-verbal behaviors. This approach is illustrated with research we are carrying out with children who speak several dialects of American English, and the Subsequent implementation and first evaluation of a virtual peer based oil that research. Results Suggest that issues of identity in ECAs are more complicated than previous approaches might Suggest, and that ECAs themselves may play a role in understanding issues of identity and language use in ways that have promise for educational applications.